Dark Secrets
by thatwritersdream
Summary: What if Emma's secret to Neal in the echo caves wasn't really her deepest secret? What if Emma is forced to tell the secret she'd kept to herself for sixteen years? Like the fact that Henry has an older sister, a daughter Emma kept hidden. Set in the S3, Ep 6.


**This is my very first OUAT fanfiction story! I really hope you enjoy this story. Please forgive me if there are any OC moments, I'm still trying to impersonate this group of characters. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**Dark Secrets**

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**Prologue **

_Sixteen year old Emma Swan cried out in agony as the pain in her abdomen worsened. The nurses have already given her the maximum amount of methanol that the doctor would let them. The numbing medication though, seemed to have little effect on Emma. Contractions were getting worse, adding more pain each second. Emma knew the baby would be here any minute, and a part of her was excited but yet very terrified. _

_The blond sixteen year old was saturated in sweat, breathing labored and withering in pain on her hospital bed. A groan escaped her chapped lips when the doctor finally entered the hospital room. He was dressed in hospital scrubs, purple elastic gloves ready to deliver Emma's baby. Now Emma was impatient, she wanted the baby out and the pain to end._

"_Emma, when I say push, you need to give a push until told again. Understood?" The doctor asks, earning a wordless nod from Emma, who was waiting for the magical word. "One, two, three- push!"_

_With all her might, Emma pushed with a cry of pain. She felt as if she was being ripped apart. At this moment Emma regretted ever giving into her hormones, falling for that seductive smirk of a mysterious stranger- whom Emma never seen since that night. He left her with a nine month surprise. Now Emma didn't know how she was going to support herself and this baby, but she'd find a way. _

"_Again Emma!" _

_With another screaming push, the wails of the baby echoed around the room. It was like time itself froze for Emma as relief spread through her body. She listened to the baby's cries, her baby's cries. A cry left her own lips, one of a certain level of happiness. The doctor's cleared out, wrapping the baby in a pink blanket and handing it over to Penny- the group home advisor._

"_It's a girl Emma." Penny says with a gentle smile. "Would you like to hold her before she goes up for adoption."_

"_Adoption?" Emma asks, genuinely surprised._

"_You don't honestly think you can raise a baby do you?" Penny asked in disbelief. "You're sixteen Emma, you can't even take care of yourself. How can you take care of your daughter?"_

"_I can get a job!" Emma argues._

"_What about your education?" Penny presses, handing over the pink bundle to Emma carefully. "Even if you got a job Emma, do you want to raise her in a group home? The thing about being a mother is thinking of your child first. You are not mother material sweetie, not yet at least. Give your baby girl a fighting chance, do what's best for her."_

_With that Penny left Emma alone, holding her baby girl in her arms. The blond teenager looked down at the baby whose eyes were closed shut. Tears formed in Emma's eyes, the little angel in her arms was perfect. It hurt Emma to admit it, but Penny was right. She deserved a life with a family that could provide for her, not some teenager who had no life experience besides group homes and stealing. The decision was made._

"_I want you to have the best baby girl." Emma whispered, staring at the baby's face in adoration. "I want you to have what I didn't. A home. A family. Someone to tell you they love you every day. So please forgive me for doing this."_

_Emma told the doctor that she'd ne giving up the baby for adoption when he came to check up on them. The doctor himself didn't seem all that surprised by her decision. Emma guess that it was inevitable that she'd give her baby girl up for adoption, being as the situation was already._

"_Would you at least like to name her Emma?" The doctor asks._

_Emma smiled sadly, "Yes." Emma whispered, kissing the baby's forehead. "Claire. Her name is Claire."_

_Then Emma watched as Claire was whisked away into the hospital hallways._

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Emma listened to everyone's deepest secrets. The one that hurt the most was Mary Margret's, it kind of made Emma feel as if it were her fault that her mother missed out on her life, but in all reality- it wasn't. Regina had put a curse in the Enchanted Forest causing all its residents to get transported into Storybrooke with no prior memories of who they once were. Living frozen in time for twenty eight years until Henry Mills retrieved his biological mother- the savior, from Boston.

In the end, Emma broke the curse when Henry's life was hanging by the threads. Now Henry was being held captive in Neverland by Peter Pan, and Neal was trapped in a cage in the Echo Caves. The only way to free him was to speak your darkest secret. Mary Margret, Killian, and David had already told their secrets, and now all that was left was Emma's. Her secret would set Neal free and then they could all go get Henry.

Without waiting any longer, Emma ran across the pillars towards Neal's enchanted wooden cage. Kneeling to look at Neal eye leveled, inspecting the cage in a way from inside as well.

"You okay?" Emma asks Neal.

"Yeah, but Henry- I"

"It's okay; we'll take care of him. Let's get you out of there first."

Emma stood up; trying to hack at it with his sword Killian had given her when they all believe Neal was dead. Neal watched, confused for a second to what it was Emma was trying to achieve. Then he realized.

"Emma? EMMA!" Neal shouted when he couldn't get the blonde's attention. Then she stopped her hacking and looked down at him. "You know that's not how this works."

Emma looked down, breathing heavily. She looks as if she's trying to decide wither or not to speak, so she kneels back down. Her gaze meet's Neal's, and he instantly sooths her. Trying to calm the nerves he saw dancing behind her eyes. Emma was nervous, she was unsure.

"You can tell me anything." Neal reassured, giving Emma a reassuring smile.

"When I heard you might be here, that you might still be alive- I knew I should be happy, but I wasn't. I was terrified. I didn't understand why until now. From the moment I saw you in New York, the instant you stepped back into my life- I knew, I knew I never stopped loving you." Emma admitted to Neal, giving him a semi-forced smile. One that Neal returned.

"Before I had a chance to take a breath, I lost you once more. And all that pain that I pushed down all those years came rushing back. I didn't know if I could go through it again." Emma trailed off at the end. "I love you I probably always will, but my secret is that I was hoping that this was a trick. I was hoping that you were dead, because it would be easier to put you behind me, than to face the pain we went through all over again."

Emma had tears in her eyes when she finished. Neal was staring at her with this look of sadness in his eyes. She felt guilty for admitting that out loud, but it was her darkest secret. To wish someone was dead because it was easier to face life that way? It was selfish to think that way, but Emma had and she felt the need to take back all that she said. One thing that wasn't easy to admit was that she still loved Neal, because Emma hadn't been sure until now. Until she thought she'd really lost him once and for all.

"Why isn't working?" Neal asks, peering at the three people who came up behind Emma.

"It should have worked." Killian mutters more to himself, thinking.

Mary Margret shook her head, "I don't understand. Emma revealed her secret, why didn't it set Neal free?"

"Aye, that may be the problem." Killian says. "Emma revealed _a_ secret. Not her _darkest _secret."

Emma stood up, "That was my darkest secret! What can you expect me to do?"

Killian shook his head, "Emma, darkest secrets have to hold a meaning behind them. You just admitted love and you wished Neal was dead so it would be easier. Think harder, what do you have buried deep down inside your mind that you tell absolutely no one? The one thing you've kept hidden to yourself?"

Emma sighed, shoulders slumping, "Henry isn't an only child. He has an older sister."

Silence.

"You have a daughter that you didn't tell anyone about?" Mary Margret asked, hurt in her voice.

"I had her when I was sixteen. At the time I was in a group home, and I wanted to keep her. I wanted to raise her and be her mother, but I was told otherwise. I didn't know exactly what I gotten myself into. The moment she was born, the moment I held her- I loved her. But then I realized, I couldn't be a mother the way I was living. I was told the same thing, I wasn't mother material." Emma looks up at her very own parents.

"I believed those words. I believed that she had a better chance with another family. I believed that I was an unfit mother. When Henry was born, I couldn't hold him. I couldn't hold another child and know I would never be able to raise them. That's why I gave Henry up, due to the fact of past experience."

The cage that held Neal suddenly disappeared. As soon as he was out, Emma was walking out of the Echo Caves- needing some air to breath. She needed to be alone for now, and David knew this. When Mary Margret went to go after Emma, David stopped her.

"She needs a little space Snow. Give her some time and I'm sure she'll tell you more about our granddaughter."

Somehow, Mary Margret wasn't so sure about that.

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**A/n**

**This is my first OUAT fanfiction and I hope so far it's good. I won't be going too far into Neverland. Maybe the next chapter or two, but not that long. I'm really excited to write this story, so please leave a review of your thoughts. Thank you for reading!**


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